Remembering Steven Clean

If you were around Los Angeles for the early days of “freeform” album rock radio — before it became “Album Oriented Rock” as an official format name — you probably remember Steven Segal, known on the air as the “Obscene” Steven Clean, as heard on legendary stations as KPPC (now KROQ, 106.7 FM), KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM), K-WEST (now KPWR, 105.9 FM), and KROQ during the era of the AM -FM simulcast.

He is the man who gave Dr. Demento — aka Barry Hansen — his name when they both worked at KPPC. Described by some as “brilliant” and a “genius” on the air, Clean passed away in his sleep on October 29th, at the age of 76.

In a tribute by his friend Paul Rappaport (https://bit.ly/3FF9exb), Rappaport writes that Clean “is a bit of an unsung hero. You see, Steven is one of the most important figures in the creation of FM Rock Radio.” 

Rappaport explained that Clean “was a true genius on the air, imparting important thoughtful cultural messages via spoken word intertwined with just the right music to help bring his points to life,” and adding that “beyond the music, disc jockeys imparted their own powerful messages. No one was more skillful in this regard than Steven. Like Bob Dylan, this expertise didn’t come from years of practice, it was a gift from above.

“Kids would literally cut out of school early to listen to Steven just to make sure they didn’t miss anything important. They exchanged cassettes of his radio shows which were like mini works of performance art,” Rappaport wrote.

That’s the connection with radio that I remember, a connection often lacking in today’s McRadio version of the industry.

Admittedly, you have to be of a certain age to have heard him on the air. He’s just slightly ahead of my time, as I was still listening to top-40 by the time he left town to return to WBCN-FM/Boston in 1977. But various airchecks offer proof that he absolutely embodied the idea of freeform FM rock radio. 

PastDaily.Com has a full unscoped hour (music and commercials) of Clean on KMET from 1975 at https://bit.ly/3sUiypr; the tribute referenced above has a scoped (edited) ’check  from his arrival at K-WEST in 1976  … and includes, by the way, a mention of Be-Bop Deluxe, giving a reminder of the huge variety of music you could once find on the radio. If you’d like to hear more, there are a few other air checks showing up on places like YouTube and MixCloud.com, which has eight recordings from his time on KMET that you can find by searching his name.

More Airchecks!

Speaking of MixCloud and YouTube, one of my favorite Mixcloud accounts, Retro Radio Joe, has a new YouTube page, and both are filled with absolutely delightful recordings. The big finds for me include three hours unscoped of Mark Elliot playing part of the countdown of The Big 93 hits for the year 1972 on KHJ (930 AM), and on YouTube he has a television commercial reminding viewers of the connection that legendary top-40 station KFRC/San Francisco had with the Bay Area Links are at https://bit.ly/3U3Mtal and https://youtu.be/pCs5e0y95TY.

SoCal Sound Web Update

The changes referenced here last week regarding the moving of SoCal Sound 88.5 FM specialty shows to new time slots should be at least slightly more palatable to fans very soon.

The station will be creating a new page on their website that will feature “SoCal Sound Specialty Show archives- on demand.”  All the shows that are airing late and that were moved, will be there for listening whenever its convenient …  with one exception: “The Dylan Hours” can’t be posted on demand due to copyright laws that prohibit the posting of content that includes the playing of three or more songs in a row by the same artist.

Readers Respond

Regarding new music on the radio, this email says exactly what I feel: “I just turned 59 and agree with you completely. The last 10 years and maybe longer than that, I find myself just listening to mainly college radio. particularly 88.3 KUCR and 88.7 Claremeont.  Best thing ever happened to me.

“I’ve gone to the last 3 Joshua Tree Music Fests. Think very miniature Coachella. It’s great. I still appreciate the classic rock.  But try to delve into the songs that are never played.” — Dan Reich

And in relation to KGO/San Francisco’s change: “I think you missed the boat when stating sports betting radio will fail. The success of this format is definitely NOT tied to the success of the two sports gambling initiatives on the California ballot. Most sports betting is done online either offshore or with local sport books.

“As you stated, the programming will be very inexpensive with the sports touts paying for 30-60 minute segments. The only true thing about sports betting … there is a sucker born every minute. This is the audience. I predict it will do very well.  I sincerely hope it does not come to KABC as they have great programming!” — James Powell

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